Slone explains that two factors were “very attractive” to the company: location and foot traffic. “We believe that the retail in the Times Square area is just getting better, better and better, and activity is going south,” he says, explaining that HGI also owns 1412 Broadway next door, which the company helped bring from 83% occupied to 95%. Now, he expects both to play off each other. “This property, which is between 39^th and 40^th on Broadway, is three blocks south of Times Square, and the retail is getting better. We have a long-term lease with the existing tenant, and even though we have a long-term lease, we believe that this property will become much more valuable as rents go up.”

Further uptown, 246-248 West 125^th Street is a single story 5,046-square-foot net leased retail building constructed in 1973 and located at the heart of the Harlem retail corridor. The asset is 100% leased to two tenants, City of Gold and the Children’s Place, with long-term in place leases. Located across the street from the famous Apollo Theatre, 246-248 West 125^th St. is located in the center of the heavily trafficked 125^th Street retail strip. The asset has received recent capital improvements including a new roof in 2011.

“It’s amazing that the 125^th Street corridor for retail is becoming the place for retailers,” he says, citing the expansion of other national brands in the area, including the recent Whole Foods lease at 125^th & Lenox, which is one block down from HGI’s site. “That area is really getting very hot.”

HGI’s real estate holdings include more than eight million square feet of commercial space and approximately 23,000 apartment units worldwide, valued at $3.4 billion. Both the sellers and acquisition prices on the two retail deals were confidential.